Former Democratic Public Service Commission candidate Patty Durand has been arrested and charged with stealing Georgia Power trade secrets.
Durand ran an unsuccessful campaign to replace Republican Tim Echols on the PSC in 2022.
She was arrested and charged with felony theft of trade secrets during a PSC hearing on Tuesday around Georgia Power’s request to add two plant Vogtles’ worth of new power, mostly for data centers.
Durand criticized the lack of transparency in Georgia Power’s agreements with data centers in an interview with GPB in August.
"The Public Service Commission allows very heavy redactions and trade secrets," said Durand. "So, the contracts between Georgia Power and the data centers are also redacted and trade secreted. So no one will know what they actually charge data centers."
A Georgia Power spokesperson defended the trade secrets as needed to protect the company, vendors and customers.
